Search

I have already written quite a bit recently about the various children of Henry and Jane TROWER of Henfield, Sussex. Henry TROWER and Jane HAYBITTLE were my 3x great-grandparents, they married in Henfield on the 3rd November 1847.

Henry was the son of William TROWER and Mary TIDEY. He was born on the 26th April 1823 presumably at Harwoods Farm, Henfield and baptised not in Henfield but at the Providence Chapel, Brighton. His parents going through a non-conformist phase at the time.

Jane HAYBITTLE was the daughter of John HAYBITTLE and Harriett WOOD. She was baptised on the 16th December 1827 in the neighbouring parish of Ashurst, Sussex.

They seem to have spent almost all of their married life in Henfield, mostly at Harwoods Farm, but in the 1891 census they were living in Rusper, Sussex where Henry was still farming as he had always been whilst in Henfield. By 1901 Henry had retired and they were back in Henfield, living in Church Street.

I have mentioned Mercy, Martha, Mary and Jane in past posts, but there were thirteen children altogether. I shall try and cover each of them in a bit more detail, but in brief their children were:

Abraham TROWER (1848-1930)

Anne TROWER (1849-1920)

Isaac TROWER (1851-1911)

Mercy TROWER (1852-1929)

Faith TROWER (1854-1870)

Luther TROWER (1856-1912)

Mary TROWER (1858-1918)

Sarah TROWER (1859-1930)

Jane TROWER (1862-1922)

Ruth TROWER (1864-1950)

Ebenezer TROWER (1866-1956) my 2x great-grandfather

Martha TROWER (1867-1942)

Eliza TROWER (1870-1940)

Jane died on the 14th October 1905 aged 77 years and was buried in Henfield Cemetery on the 17th October. Henry’s death followed shortly afterwards on the 25th October (aged 82) and was buried on the 28th October. I have featured a photo of their gravestone in a previous post. Their grave was on un-consecrated ground, presumably as a result of Henry’s non-conformist baptism.

I have been unable to find a will for either Henry or Jane. Abraham had already taken over farming at Harwoods Farm many years ago, and there was probably nothing else left to worry about.

The lives of Henry and Jane TROWER seem quite mundane and what I considered to be quite typical of my ancestors lives. However, once I started looking at the lives of their children all sorts of more interesting stories started to appear.